Newark Mayor Calls For 'Common Sense Gun Control' After Texas Shooting

NEWARK, NJ — Mourners across the nation, including in the Brick City, are in grief after a deadly school shooting in Texas, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka says.

The number of children killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde has risen to at least 19, according to reports. The gunman – who was killed in the shooting – also shot his grandmother before entering the school, according to reports. Read More: Texas School Shooting: 19 Children Killed In Uvalde

New Jersey Acting Attorney General Matthew Platkin said that New Jersey State Police will ramp up their presence at the Garden State schools where troopers are the primary law enforcement. All 21 county prosecutors have also been instructed to increase local police presence at schools in their jurisdictions.

Gov. Phil Murphy tweeted that the measure comes despite "no credible threats" in New Jersey. Read More: More Police To Patrol NJ Schools After Texas Shooting, AG Says

Mayor Baraka issued a statement about the shooting on Wednesday, noting that while the Texas shooting is a tragedy, tears have been shed for many other victims of gun violence across the nation, including Newark.

Baraka wrote:

"For the second time in a week, our nation grieves for multiple people shot without warning while going about their daily lives. 10 African-Americans were murdered and three other people injured in the supermarket shooting in Buffalo last week and 19 fourth-graders and two teachers were shot dead in Texas yesterday. The children were all in the same classroom when the gunman locked himself in and began firing.

“Just imagining the terror of those children should be enough for any civilized, sensible country to ban automatic and semi-automatic weapons, as Australia did in 1996 after their lone mass shooting.

“We must dig deep and truly ask why Americans accept a society where people are killed in schools, at church, in stores, at concerts or at work. We must know that any sane person is appalled and depressed that this happens in our country.

“The first responsibility of government is to protect the citizenry and yet it’s been 23 years since Columbine, 10 years since Sandy Hook, seven years since Charleston, five years since Las Vegas, and four years since Parkland. While these mass killings shock the nation, equally disturbing is the massive number of people, mostly young men, dying of gunshot wounds in our cities, including Newark.

“This is clear evidence that the failure to enact federal, common-sense gun control laws is an abject failure of government to protect its people. That is the simple truth and we should no longer hide from it.

“I call upon our citizens to vehemently demand that federal leadership pass stringent gun safety and gun violence legislation, much like we have in New Jersey. I further call upon our law enforcement agencies, health care agencies, our families, and our responsible gun owners to take serious and permanent action against this nightmare. As a nation, we must no longer stand for this because it doesn’t represent who we truly are.”

Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com

Sign up for Patch email newsletters. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site.